Aerial toy



P 1944- c. RQBUTCHER 2,358,379

AERIAL TOY Filed Oct. 29, 1943 inventor C/ajude 250/3150 attorneyPatented Sept. 19, 1944 V V AERIAL TOY .ClaudeR. Butcher, swego, 0r'g. jApplication Qct0ber29, 1943, Serial No. 503,155 I (01. 46-75) s Claims.

Thisinvention relates. totan aerial toy of the contractible type to beshot into: the. air where- .upon the parts assume their normal positionand 1 the toy descends in flight. 3 More particularly the invention isIa helicopter, toy,.is initially propelled upward in' collapsedconditionand descendsin its normal relation of parts.

. It is an'important objectof this invention to I erating positionwith'rapidity upon loss of forward movement following its airprojection.

Still another .objectiof this invention is the provision, in a toy ofthe type mentioned, of novel collapsible support means for a helicopterrotor which means can be easily formed of minimum parts and yet in amanner to afford the maximum of strength and operability.

thereto I, prefer to accomplish as follows:

According to a preferred embodiment of my invention, I support above a.simulatedairplane fuselage a helicopter rotor.v The fuselagehas landingwheels, .body portion and torquerestricting tail surface.i"Above thefuselage upon a swingable column I mount the rotor. The column swingsfrom the upright or erect position down to alignment with the fuselage.Elastic means is employed to erect the column and tend to keep it in theupright position. Counterweight means are employed to vary the center ofgravity to affect as desired the flight characteristics of the toy. Uponthe upper end of the column is pivotally mounted a rotor spool fromwhich extend in radial manner the blades of the rotor which are hingedto the spool for nesting purposes; Elastic means is also employed totend to keep the blades in normal radial or extended position above thefuselage. A hook is provided upon the column for engagement with anelastic propulsion means used in shooting the toy in its collapsedcondition into the air. All of the parts are formed of light weightmaterials having high strength characteristics to insure long anddurable life in the toy.

The novel features that I consider character- 3 The foregoing objectsand others ancillary V which A istic of my inventionare set fortl'i,withjp articiularity in the appended claims;- .Theuinvention' itself,however, bothas vto. its organizationof parts and its .mode: ofoperation, together with additional objects and/advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description ofa specificembodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in.Figure 1 is a sideiview. of ,lny sent-1.605;;

Figure 2 is a plan viewof the toy,

Figure 3 is a side viewof thetoyas itappears collapsed and about to beplaced in flight in theair, p Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of themanner in which'the rotor blades are hinged to their ppor in p 1 5Figure 5 is fragmentary enlarged detail of the manner of supporting therotor bladesfrom the spool,

the rotor support column, and p r Figure 7 is a sectional view takenon-lines 1-1 of Figure 6. p I p An aerial toy .to serve thepurposes ofutility must have at least two totally distinct characte'risticsyit mustbe capable of absorbing. a terrific amount of punishment .at the hands?of youthful aeronauts; and iii must also beca- Figure 6 is an enlargedfragrnentaryfdetail' of pable of accurate and sustainedfiight includingprojection to greatheights. Accordingly, a preferred embodiment of myinvention, referring to the drawing is constituted bya Lfusela geQbOdylll'having a torque resisting tail surface '12 secured to one end. Ashere shown the tail [2 is circular and in effect constitutes a landingrunner as well as providing a maximum of surface to the air to resisttwisting of the toy as it descends in flight. The thinned forwardportion I4 of the body is roughly a quadrant segment and has a pivot pinl6 therethrough on which is to swing therewith and when in the erectposi- I tion constitute supports for the wheels 28, 28. A pin 30 risesfrom the upper end of post I8 and in its upper extremity isformed toprovide erected by the action of elastic member 20. When the device isair borne the rotor which the'foregoing arrangement I hover' over onespotand only descend in a vera tow hook 32 which receives an elasticloop 34 upon the launching stick 36 provided for pro- Fpelling thedevice under certain conditions.

The spool at hub 38 is rotatable on pin 30 has extending from its underedges the hinged leaves 5 40 to each of which a rotor blade 42 isattached. :The pivots of the hinges are normal to the mast. Betweenaring 44 and hooks 46, one of which is provided on each blade, I stretchelastic bands 48 which serve to suspend the blades in the manner shownin Figures: 1 and5.

In that end of the body opposite the tail surface [2 I mount a weightbeam 50 on which is; mounted the weight 52 for movement along the beam.In this instance the weight is threaded upon the beam to provide gradualadjusting means between the two elements and torretain to a degree theparts in adjusted position.

To collapse the toy preparatory for projection into the air, the post ormast I8 is swung forward into alignment with the body In. The rotorwhich iscarr'ed thereby is then collapsed against the urgence of theelastic bands '48 into the form shown in Figure 3 where it is retainedto-the tail surface by a person grasping the parts between g5 his thumband forefinger. The band 34 is-looped around hook 32 and then stretchedbyv pull exerted upon stick 36 in the other hand. When the tail isreleased the toy will shoot forward into the air in this streamlinedcondition for many {so feet. As its forward speed decreases and theslipstream effect uponthe blades recedes the toy tends to come to restin the air at which time the rotors expand as normal and the post I8 isis pitched in the manner of an air screw, begins to turn insimulationof-a helicopter and sup-- ports the plane to a'certain extentagainst the effect of gravity. Placement of the weight 52(g0 relativethe center of gravity will effectthebalance of the body I0 upon therotor so that, when theweight' is placed forwardly of the center ofgravity the body nose 14 will be tipped forward and the toy will descendgradually and glide for-i ward at :the same time. 7 I Ic'enter ofgravity is shifted more to the rear of At such times as the the toywill'tend to ticalline. Skill may be exercised inthe use of of the rotoris restrained by the rather large torque resisting tail surface [2which, in forward flight also serves as a rudder to guide the toy in afairly straight course.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

. 1. In an aerial toy, a fuselage, a saddle having its legs pivoted tosaid fuselage, a tow hook fastened to said saddle away from the pivotthereof, and folding wings carried by said saddle whereby the same maybe swung so that said wings may be folded along said fuselage duringtowing of said toy, whereby pressure on said hook will rej tain thesaddle in the swung position.

2. In an aerial toy, a fuselage having a mast pivoted thereto to swingto the forward end in a substantially horizontal manner, a tow hooksemotion'of said blades, stops limiting movement .of saidmast'from anupright position to a forward horizontal position, resilient means forurging said mast to the upright position, whereby the mast may swingforward and one blade folded under the fuselage and the other two wingswill lie one on each side of said fuselage in a streamlined manner and atorque restraining member on said fuselage. i

3. An aerial toy, comprising: a fuselage having a'tail rudder and aforward quadrant segmental portion, stops at either end of saidsegmental portion, asplit mast pivoted astride said fuselageadjacent'the center of said segmental portion and limited inits-swinging'movementby said stops,

resilient means between an upper portion of said mast and a rear portionofthe fuselage, a, hub rotatably mounted on said mast at its upper endand having blades forming a rotor hingedly secured to the undersidethereof, resilient means between an upper intermediate portion of eachblade and an upper portion of said 'hub to tend to urge the blades intoradial extended position with relation to thehub; and a tow hook on saidmast for engagement with towing means when 'the mast is swung toitsforward position and the blades are' caused'to lie in streamlinedposition alongside the fuselage whereby the toy may be forcefullyprojected into the air;

CLAUDE R. BUTCHER.

